#6 LSU Tigers: College Football 77 in 77

Have you been following the news lately? The LSU Tigers could be facing a Category 2 storm of off-the-field issues. If they’re lucky, their problems could be downgraded to a Tropical Storm by conference season. LSU football players should have learned- what good can come from hanging out at a bar named Shady’s?

I bet even Marshall Mathers would agree with me. You can’t spell assault without the letters l-s-u and this incident forced me to move the Tigers down a few pegs. From USA Today:

The Baton Rouge Police Department’s view is that LSU starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson and reserve linebacker Josh Johns committed second-degree battery against two of four male non-football players that went to the hospital in the aftermath of a fight outside Shady’s Bar near campus on Aug. 19. One alleged victim has three fractured vertebrae and the other has bruises and scratches on their face and hands possibly from self defense, police say. Police have failed to update or detail the condition of the injured victims, though.

Upon request by police, Jefferson and Johns turned themselves in late Friday morning at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. While they were being booked, Miles indefinitely suspended both players. They were later released on $5,000 bond by their attorney at the time, Nathan Fisher.

According to a petition for a temporary restraining order filed by his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, Lowery was stalking her in a bar and hit one of her friends earlier in the evening. (She also claims Lowery forced his way into her home earlier this month and at one point followed her to New Orleans and threatened her friends.) A judge granted the restraining order on Wednesday and set a hearing date in September.

2010 was: a wing and a prayer? smoke and mirrors? piss and vinegar? How did they go 11-2 and thrash Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl with a team that ranked 107th in passing and 86th in yardage? Well, the defense was dominant, just right outside the top ten in most major categories, and the running game was special.

Jordan Jefferson is terrible at playing football, just like he’s terrible at not committing assault and battery. Maybe he isn’t such a loss anyway.

BMOCs: QB Zach Mettenberger, a Georgia cast-off takes over now. Upgrade? At least that’s what we thought until senior Jarrett Lee got the nod. We didn’t learn about this until last Friday. So now we have a unknown known. Spencer Ware is now the feature back, but don’t forget about Michael Ford and Alfred Blue, WR Rueben Randle is a stud, and Mettenberger needs to find him early and often. They do after all open with Oregon on Saturday. CB Morris Claiborne led LSU in interceptions last season, starting opposite him is Tyrann Mathieu, who must fill step into Patrick Peterson’s big shoes. LBs Ryan Baker and Stefoin Francois are two to watch. The Tigers return a lot of starters on defense, but not all of them will start this year- depth on that side of the ball is pretty good.

2011 will be awful if: Jefferson is the winningest active SEC QB, but it seems like the Tigers won in spite of him. He only threw 4 TDs vs 9 INTs. So with Mettenberger under the helm, it might not the “game manager” philosophy. Is this is when it all caves in for the Mad Hatter? Les Miles has skated by with special teams flukes and capitalizing on fluky, bone-headed mistakes by his opponents for quite awhile. We all love his sometimes ballsy play-calling, will it backfire this time?

2011 will be fruitful if: everyone stays healthy, and they find a true successors at kicker, punter and return specialist. They lost their top rusher and tackler from last year, so replacing them is uhm, a little bit important.

Bottom Line: The national title game is at their second home, New Orleans’ Superdome this year. Will LSU make the trip? It’s possible, but at this point I wouldn’t bet on it. They’ll be in contention though.

LSU Rankings: #5 LSU, #4 USA Today, AP, Lindy’s, #8 Athlon

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports

He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter

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